


Change of Perspective

by darkling59



Series: Annals of the Incomplete [30]
Category: Torchwood
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Creature Fic, accidental species change
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-03-16
Updated: 2015-03-16
Packaged: 2018-03-18 00:47:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,015
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3549872
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/darkling59/pseuds/darkling59
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Gwen has a crisis of humanity. Meaning, she's no longer a human (for alien reasons...) and is forced to come to terms.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Change of Perspective

“What am I, Jack?”

Jack froze, startled. He’d thought the young woman crouching at the edge of the roof was oblivious to his presence. Apparently he’d underestimated her yet again.

“Gwen…”

“Not my species.” She sniffled slightly, hunching in on herself and seeming to tilt more towards the edge. “I know about that. But what about me? I’m not allowed to leave the Hub, I chase laser pointers for Tosh and Owen, and you pet my ears while you’re doing your paperwork. Sometimes I help Ianto with paperwork and cleaning but usually I just sleep the day away.”

The aforementioned ears twitched back from the breeze, sagging close to her head in dejection. Jack had to resist the urge to reach out and stroke the edge as he had done many times before. He'd thought she liked it.

“Is that all I am, Jack?” She turned back from the edge to gaze at him with soulful and tear filled green eyes. “Some kind of glorified pet?”

“Gwen,” he reached a hand out towards her, not daring to step closer lest she become startled and fall over the edge, “Step away from there. Come on.”

She stared at him for a long moment, glanced back towards the city, then sighed and uncurled from her position. Jack released a breath he hadn’t realized he was holding as she crept towards him along one of the bare beams hanging out over the ledge. Her perch had been slightly more stable than the unfinished wooden skeleton connecting it to the building but not by much. Even Jack, with his immortality and habit of surveying the city from rooftops, had never ventured into such shaky territory.

He watched, not daring to fully relax until she was back on safe ground and standing in front of him looking small and miserable. Without a second thought, he reached out and enfolded her in a comforting embrace, tucking her head under his chin. For once, she didn’t protest, just burrowed into his chest and whimpered slightly.

“Gwen.” One dark ear twitched forward slightly to show she was listening. “You aren’t an animal.”

She pulled her head away from him and looked into his eyes, blinking away tears but still snuffling.

“But…”

He took her chin gently in his hand and gazed straight into her now-inhuman eyes, allowing his sincerity to show.

“No buts. You are an intelligent, reasoning person. So you’re not quite what you used to be. So what?”

She tried to look away, discontent with his answer, but he did not release her.

“You want to know what you are? Fine.” He watched her interest flare. The sniffles were almost completely gone now. “You’re Gwen Cooper. That has not changed. And it is not going to change.”

She looked at him for a long moment, not struggling or moving but obviously waiting for something more.

“These,” he released her chin and touched the tips of her ears lightly, causing them to twitch and quiver, “are not you. They are a part of you now but they don’t define who you are. None of the changes do."

For a long moment, neither of them moved. Him with one arm wrapped around her shoulders and a hand on her head, and her leaning into his chest with both hands clenched in his shirt. Their eyes remained locked, expressions unwavering.

After several minutes, Gwen shook her head lightly and twitched her ears. “Jack, that tickles. Stop it.”

His serious expression turned into a wide smile and he began to tickle, causing her to squeak and step back, batting his hand away in the process. (He noted how carefully she kept her new claws away from his skin.)

“C’mon.” He shot her a winning smile and turned towards the door to the stairs. It only took a few steps for him to realize she wasn’t following but he kept going for another few yards, hoping she would catch up on her own. He stopped at the door, still alone.

She had not caught up.

Damn.

He really didn’t want to hurt her but he could not let her roam free. No amount of reassuring words would change the fact that she was now a possible threat to the city. Using small, slow motions, Jack wrapped a hand around the tranquilizer hidden in his coat pocket. If he needed to, he would knock her out and take her back to the Hub by force.

But he still had hopes that it would not come to that.

“Gwen? You coming?” He purposely kept his tone light as he turned back.

“…Yeah.” The young woman was standing where he had left her, gazing off into the distance and paying very little attention to him. Even stepping up beside her didn’t draw much of a reaction.

Wrapping his free arm around her shoulders, he tugged her gently in the direction of the door, keeping the tranquilizer hidden with his other hand.

Thankfully, she didn’t protest, just gave him a slightly blank look and allowed herself to be led. She even had enough presence of mind to flatten her ears in her hair and hide her face in her scarf when they passed people on the lower floors of the building.

Once out of the building, he led her to the Torchwood SUV (illegally double parked right outside the front door) and installed her in the passenger seat.

On the way back to the Hub, he watched her press her nose to the window to watch the hustle and bustle of normality on the streets. It was an amusing sight but he could not bring himself to smile at her curiosity. The implications of its existence were worrying and more than a little depressing. Had it really been that long since she became infected? How long had she been trapped in the Hub, by his orders? She was downright starved for human contact.

When her ears drooped as soon as he parked the car in the Hub parking lot, he made up his mind.

Something would have to be done.

**Author's Note:**

> Now that I look at it again, this could be a sequel to my previous TW fic 'Quarantine'...


End file.
